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12 months of 2021: June

It was another year of turbulence for people professionals. Our 12 Days of Christmas countdown reviews what made the headlines in 2021.

Backlash as BrewDog HR team responds to toxic work claims 

BrewDog's people team responded to the 'Punks with Purpose' campaign which alleged negative experiences of former employees, but the response has exacerbated the issues.

On 9 June the Punks with Purpose campaign released an open letter to their former employer on Twitter claiming they had been belittled and pressured into working beyond their capacity. 

A day later, the group shared an email that reportedly had been circulated to current employees of BrewDog by HR asking for their support against the claims of toxic workplace culture. 

 

New Flexible Working Bill could give employees the right to flexible work post-pandemic

Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn Tulip Sadiq proposed a new Bill to parliament that gives workers the right to flexible work.

Co-sponsored by MPs from the Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem, Green, SDLP and SNP parties, the Flexible Working Bill would give all workers a right to flexible working from the first day in a job and ensure that employers advertise flexibility in job adverts.

It echoes the CIPD's Flex from First campaign, launched in February, which asked employers to make flexible working a day-one right. 

 

Ed Miliband calls for 12-week paternity leave

Then shadow business secretary Ed Miliband said the current systems in place for parental leave encourages a ‘men at work, women at home’ culture.

Miliband therefore called for paternity leave that lasts at least three months to help challenge established gender roles and the prioritisation of work over family for men.

The former Labour leader has written a book, Go Big, about policy ideas he said could remodel UK society.

In it, he explored how existing policy encourages fathers to take only a brief paternal pit stop.

 

 

The best bits of HR magazine from June 2021: 

Long COVID: rethinking ill-health and the world of work

HR needs to think about equity, not equality

Why most corporate diversity structures fail and how to ensure yours doesn't